For the Good of the Game? The Legacy of the Football Trust,the Football Pools,and the Dangerous Seduction of Political Promise

During the late twentieth century, the United Kingdom’s football infrastructure and spectatorship underwent transformation as successive stadia disasters heightened political and public scrutiny of the game and prompted industry change. Central to this process was the government’s formation of an independent charitable organization to oversee subsequent policy implementation and grant-aid provision to clubs for safety, crowd, and spectator requirements. This entity, which began in 1975 focusing on ground improvement, developed into the Football Trust. The Trust was funded directly by the football pools companies who ran popular low-stakes football betting enterprises. Working in association with the Pools Promoters Association (PPA), and demonstrating their social responsibility towards the game’s constituents, the pools resourced a wide array of Trust activities. Yet irrespective of government mandate, the PPA and Trust were continually confronted by political and economic obstacles that threatened the effectiveness of their arrangements. In this paper the history of the Football Trust is investigated, along with its partnership with the PPA, and its relationship with the government within the context of broader political shifts, stadia catastrophes, official inquiries, and commercial threats. It is contended that while the Trust/PPA partnership had a respectable legacy, their history afforded little protection against adverse contemporary conditions.     

The Singapore Football League, 1904–1941: Towards the Institutionalization of Football in the Colonial Port City of Singapore

Abstract

The Singapore Football Association (SFA) was founded in 1892. In 1904, the YMCA initiated the first football league with 12 teams from military and European clubs and School Old Boys’ teams. The first phase from 1904 to 1913 was restricted to European and Eurasian only. The military teams won six out of the nine tournaments. The second phase of the league began in 1917 and from 1921 to 1941. The Straits Chinese Football Association (SCFA) took part in the league and the rejuvenated SFA included a representative from the SCFA. The Singapore Football League started with two divisions 1921 and participating teams from the SCFA in the same year and the Malaya Football Association (MFA) in 1924. The SCFA won the league for the first time in 1925 and subsequently in 1930, 1937, and 1938. In 1929, the SFA was renamed the Singapore Amateur Football Association (SAFA). The MFA won the League for the first time in 1931, and the first local team to win three years in succession from 1931 to 1933. From 1931 to 1941 the local teams won seven league titles out of 11. By 1940 the League grew with 44 teams in three divisions.     

The Origins of Football Debate: The Continuing Demise of the Dominant Paradigm, 1852–1856

This article presents original and compelling new material in ‘the origins of football debate’, this time from the period 1852–1856, using the British Library's digitisation project of nineteenth-century newspapers. In so doing, it addresses the alleged disappearance of football in the wider community in mid-century, a problem that has troubled a number of scholars, not least because of the rapid expansion in the game amongst the working and lower middle classes from the 1870s onwards. In addressing this allegation it outlines a much broader and more stable footballing culture across the country than hitherto thought, based on games played at church, work and school outings, rural fetes and galas, alongside those played at celebrations and as street football or casual games in meadows, fields or greens, arguing that those historians who have simply looked for formal games were looking for the wrong forms of football in the wrong places, based on twentieth-century notions of what constitutes a ‘game’ of football. Overall, the article has added yet more evidence of the cultural continuity of football across the mid-century and contributed to the continuing demise of the so-called ‘dominant paradigm’ in the ‘origins of football’ debate.     

The Origins of Football Debate: Football and Cultural Continuity, 1857–1859

This article seeks to add to the growing volume of evidence of a broad, tenacious and visible footballing culture throughout nineteenth-century Britain. It is argued that football persisted among the general population in a variety of forms, none of which required the assistance or involvement of the public schools or public schoolboys to ensure its survival as some historians had previously believed. Indeed, the sheer number of games, evidenced in a variety of forms and a variety of settings, suggests beyond reasonable doubt that most forms of football being played across the country were not formal matches but small-sided games played on church, works' or schools' outings, at rural fetes, galas and celebrations, or as street or casual football, the latter taking place on meadows, fields and greens. Contrary to orthodox historians, these games did survive through mid-century. Importantly, these were predominantly small-sided games and are the ones which are closest to Association football as it was codified in 1863 and hence of most interest to the debate on origins. Common sense then dictates that football can be seen as a cultural continuity, especially as far as the traditions of male youth are concerned, across the nineteenth century.     

The Origins of Football Debate: The ‘Grander Design and the Involvement of the Lower Classes’, 1818–1840

This article presents extensive new material in ‘the origins of football debate’ by using the British Library's digitisation project of nineteenth-century newspapers. In so doing, it responds to claims from Graham Curry and Eric Dunning that previous works of the ‘revisionist historians’ John Goulstone, Adrian Harvey and Peter Swain are misleading and have led to hasty conclusions. It evidences a football culture beyond the domain of the public schools and highlights the shift in the locus of games from urban areas to paddocks and fields complying with the Highways and Police Acts. This compliance reduced the number of prosecutions covered in newspaper reports of the day but other games, in which misdemeanours took place, are recorded, suggesting that a broad football culture did still exist in this period. The article rejects Curry and Dunning's thesis surrounding a mid-century ‘civilising spurt’ in sport in favour of explanations surrounding the structural changes taking place in the nineteenth century, including increasing industrialisation, urbanisation, population growth, and migrationary movements. It also emphasises the emergence of a horizontally stratified class-based society and an attack on football games from an emerging social and industrial elite who were looking after their property and commercial interests.     

The Origins of Football Debate: The Evidence Mounts, 1841–1851

In response to recent articles by Eric Dunning and Graham Curry, this article presents a wide range of new material from the period 1841 to 1851 in the ‘Origins of Football Debate’, using evidence gleaned from the British Library's digitisation of nineteenth-century newspapers. It responds to the charge that the works of ‘revisionist historians’, John Goulstone, Adrian Harvey and Peter Swain, are misleading and have led to hasty conclusions, and rejects their analysis that argues they are part of an academic community seemingly frantic for working-class influence to the detriment of public schoolboys. The article adds extensive evidence that records a much broader footballing culture across the country in mid-century than previously thought. In so doing, it addresses concerns, which have troubled many scholars, of the alleged disappearance of football in the wider community in the mid-nineteenth century, not least because of the sport's rapid expansion amongst the working and middle classes in the 1870s. The evidence presented does suggest that many forms of football other than folk football or games under the influence of public schools or public schoolboys were played, challenging ‘orthodox’ historian's views surrounding the influence of public schools and public schoolboys on the development of the game.     

Football at the ‘End of the Line’: Economic Decline,Cross-Subsidies and Football League Membership in the NW Steel District of England

Sporting leagues are generally based on collectivist principles, as the members need one another to produce their product. For much of its existence, the Football League has functioned as a cartel, operating income-sharing arrangements and controlling its membership. In the period from 1959 to 1986, a limited number of clubs left the League through the re-election process, in modest recognition of geographical logic, as clubs from growth areas to the south typically replaced clubs from more traditional economic areas that were often over-represented in the Football League. Clubs are widely seen to be utility-maximisers seeking success. Success in a sporting league is defined in a precise and relativist way and this article focuses on two of the least successful clubs to have played in the Football League, Barrow AFC and Workington FC, whose failure to obtain repeated re-election in the 1970s removed the only Football League clubs in a distinct economic zone, the north-west coastal steel district. This article examines the re-election mechanism and the particular economic factors that affected these two clubs, ranging from the decline of their main local industry to changes in the levels of and responsibilities attaching to rising cross-subsidy payments in the Football League.     

The Best Of The World

世界冠军(4月11日至5月10日)4月22日至4月25日2004年玛诺—仅升杯现代五项世界杯赛暨奥运会预选赛在北京举行,匈牙利的加博尔和俄罗斯的塔提亚娜分获个人项目男、女冠军。4月22日至4月30日在雅典举行的世界杯射击赛中,悉尼奥运会冠军、法国名将弗兰克·迪穆兰以687.5环夺得男子     

‘Carry On’: The Response of the Victorian Football League to the Challenges of World War II

The Victorian Football League (VFL) was formed following an acrimonious split with the Victorian Football Association at the end of the 1896 season. Despite being based around clubs located only in Melbourne and Geelong, the VFL soon became Australia's premier football competition. Although much has been written about League players who served in the armed forces during the two world wars, less attention has been given to identifying the issues and challenges that football competitions, and the VFL in particular, had to address if they were to continue to function during times of military conflict. Trials faced by organisers of the code were logistical, political and moral. Player and administrator shortages and a restricted number of venues to play at, were the most obvious challenges. The Australian government assumed control of manpower and resources in January 1942 and placed many restrictions on discretional activities of the population. In this context, a general feeling was that there was little room for organised major sporting competitions because they could detract from the war focus. The way society reacted to the constraints shaped football's direction, and the VFL had to interpret government policy and read the mood of the public before deciding whether to continue playing. In the end, the League, despite criticism from some quarters for continuing its competition, sided with the prevailing view that the public needed a diversion to allow them some relaxation from the pressure of war. This article discusses how the VFL responded to a number of key issues during the critical period between 1942 and 1944.     

A Competition that Shook European Football: The Origins of the European Champion Clubs' Cup, 1954–1955

This article examines the establishment of the men's football European Champion Clubs' Cup in the mid-1950s. Its aim is to explain the reasons which led to the realization of this contest at this time in the sport's history. The creation of the competition was the result of the daily newspaper L'Équipe's undertakings. Its financial capacity, its experience in developing competitions and the ties it maintained with important figures in the field of football equipped the newspaper with the assets to foster a keen interest around the project and thus capitalize on a context in European football that was particularly favourable to the creation of this contest. This study was conducted based on the reading of the issues of L'Équipe and France Football from that time period, on unprecedented research in the archives of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), complemented with documentation obtained from the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA). In addition, this research benefited from a long interview conducted with Jacques Ferran, a journalist who participated directly in the development of the project.     

Scoring on and off the field?: The impact of Australia's inclusion in the Asian Football Confederation

The case follows Australia's move from the Oceania Football Federation (OFC) to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The case explores the impact of Australia's inclusion on other AFC member nations and highlights that Australia's relative success in the AFC may not be perceived as positive by all stakeholders within the AFC. The case considers the effect of Australia's inclusion in the AFC on the AFC in general, and also on both the sport of soccer in Australia, and the broader Australian economy.     

The Structural Adjustment of Football in Zambia: Politics,Decline and Dispersal, 1991–1994

Abstract

This paper explores multiple and complex relationships between football (soccer), politics, and the economy in postcolonial Zambia. Based on archival and oral sources collected in Zambia, the paper argues that President Frederick Chiluba’s government failed to support football development when it came into power in 1991 because it was elected on a platform of liberalizing the collapsing national economy. Chiluba privatized state-owned companies that were sponsoring the game resulting in the plummeting of the local standards and migration of talented footballers abroad in search of better livelihoods. Furthermore, the paper argues that while the exodus of talented footballers led to the deterioration of the standards of the local league, their transnational experience boosted the performance of the Zambia national football team. This led to the emergence of one of the best national teams the country has ever had. Unfortunately, this particular team perished in the Gabon air disaster in 1993 following the government’s disinvestment in the game. However, a few months after the disaster, the country managed to rebuild a national football team, which emerged as runners up to Nigeria in the 1994 African Cup of Nations final as a result of a large pool of local and foreign-based football players.     

Rugby Union Football in the Land of the Wallabies, 1874–1949: same game,different ethos

Football as a generic game-form was a feature of the sporting culture of the settlers of Australia. As the various codes emerged in Britain they were ‘exported’ to the colonies throughout the Empire. In Australia this cultural imposition was not complete for the British games faced significant cultural resistance, most notably from Australian Rules football. The first formal club was founded circa 1865 and by the time a governing body was formed in 1874, the game had acquired distinctive playing and administrative traits and a sporting ethos, These were aberrant to the British form as pragmatic modifications were made in response to the social, cultural and environmental exigencies and demands of the frontier-like context: the game of Rugby immediately became Australianized. This analysis traces the development of the game's culture in Australia through the initial 75 years of its institutionalization and demonstrates that despite its transit through the colonial era, urbanization, nationalism, federation and the travails of two World Wars, aspects of the residual culture remained. Rugby football, established in NSW and Queensland as a feature of the cultural hegemony of British Imperialism, prevailed largely unchanged in terms of power relations, ideology, finances and success over its first 75 years. This discussion reflects upon the critical influences, incidents and individuals that impacted upon and shaped Rugby union football in NSW and Queensland up to the founding of the Australian Rugby Football Union, which took until 1949 to occur.     

A Game for Christmas? The Argylls,Saxons and Football on the Western Front,December 1914

Historians know that any mention of football and World War I will involve discussions of the Christmas truces of 1914 and the mythical football match between British and German troops. Many British soldiers denied that any truce had occurred let alone a football match. However, while there is indisputable evidence of truces, triangulating proof of football has been elusive. In this paper, a case study of the British 2/Argylls and the German 133/Saxons is developed. The underlying reasons behind the truce are discussed and why some combatants, in the short break from trying to kill each other, probably played football, even though certainly not as the formal match of popular imagination. It is argued that the truce was a result of unique circumstances and was not an overwhelmingly inspirational moment for the majority of troops involved; they all returned to the fighting. Most participants on both sides of the truce probably regarded it as an unexpected holiday and some availed themselves of the opportunity to play their favourite game. The paper concludes by examining recent commemorative events of Christmas 1914 and how they may have contributed to the myth of ‘The Football Match’.     

Mixing Business with Leisure? The Football Club Doctor,Sports Medicine and the Voluntary Tradition

The football club doctor has traditionally been a role fulfilled by a local general practitioner on a casual basis over a long period. Since the 1990s, due to football's accelerated commercialization, a number of clubs have appointed full-time doctors with specialist sports medicine knowledge. This article explores the origins and development of this role in its wider social context since the late nineteenth century and argues that initially club doctors were part of a voluntary tradition. In addition, the development of the role has reflected the nature of sports medicine in Britain and more particularly football, as well as highlighting the changing demands and pressures of the job in light of growing commercial demands.     

The Migration of African-Americans to the Canadian Football League During the 1950s: An Escape from Racism?

It is the argument of this paper that the literature on mid-century racial discrimination in sport is incomplete in that it ignores the experiences of a small, but relatively significant, group of African-American football players who actually chose to leave their own country – and correspondingly leave the racially-charged environment of mid-twentieth-century USA – to head north to play professional football in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Beginning in 1946, a steady flow of African-Americans began to migrate to the CFL which, at the time, was a legitimate competitor league to the NFL. This paper attempts to test a perception seemingly held by some that, by moving to Canada, African-American football players were able to escape the racial injustices they often suffered in the US. This view appears to have its roots in the notion that Canada is a ‘gentler’, more tolerant society, without the divisive socio-political history that characterizes much of the race relations in the US. This paper tests these notions using a variety of empirical approaches. The results indicate that, while African-Americans were better represented in the CFL relative to the NFL, African-Americans still faced some level of entry discrimination in the CFL. In particular, African-American players in the CFL outperformed their white counterparts on numerous performance dimensions, indicating the overall talent level in the CFL could have been further improved by employing an even greater number of African-Americans. Additionally, the paper finds that those CFL teams that employed the highest percentage of African-Americans were those teams that had the most on-field success. Finally, the paper analyses prices of player trading cards from that era, and finds that cards of African-Americans were undervalued, relative to white CFL players of equal talent.     

Looking for a Refuge of ‘Normalcy’ during the Argentine Dictatorship: The Case of Atlanta Football Club

Abstract

This article examines the history of Club Atlético Atlanta of Buenos Aires during the years of the military dictatorship (1976–1983) within the framework of efforts to reconsider the impact of repression on everyday life. Club Atlético Atlanta is a microcosm of Argentine society, and it contained everything: from victims of repression, to the son of genocidal general Roberto Eduardo Viola. Conformism, indifference, adaptation, support for the military authorities, or opposition to them, as well as resistance strategies, were a mosaic of expressions showing that various attitudes coexisted while facing the impact of state terror on daily life. The advent of dictatorship did not mean the same rupture for everyone, and did not alter in the same way certain dimensions of everyday life and routines for different individuals and groups. The story of a neighbourhood club such as Atlanta and the perceptions and memories of its fans may help us move forward on this path, to ascertain the links between the ‘micro’ level of social life and the great narratives of politics and the State.     

Early Football and the Emergence of Modern Soccer,c. 1840–1880

The origins of the modern football codes have attracted considerable attention from historians of sport over the past two decades, resulting in a vigorous debate between the self-described ‘revisionists’, led by Adrian Harvey, and the followers of Eric Dunning, dubbed by their opponents as the ‘orthodox’ view. However, this article argues that both sides commit the same methodological errors: an overestimation of the importance of written rules, an ahistoric view of culture and continuity, and a tendency to view the past through the lens of the present. By re-examining the historical record of early forms of football and presenting a broader contextual perspective for the emergence of the football codes in the 1840 to 1880 period, the article aims to address some of the key historiographical issues that confront historians of sport today.     

‘Managing the Media’: The Changing Relationship Between Football Managers and the Media

This article examines how the relationship between the media and football managers has evolved over the twentieth century. In particular, it argues that before the late 1960s, the print media largely shaped perceptions of managers but after this period, television became the dominant medium in framing their image. In a wider context, this relationship has reflected changes in the media as well as mirroring football's association with it. The transformation of football managers into celebrities, for example, has reflected the so-called ‘tabloidization’ process of the media. Not only have tabloid newspapers gone ‘downmarket’ but also both quality broadsheet papers and television broadcasters have ‘dumbed down’. The article highlights not only how the changing role of the manager has been partly due to changes in the media industry but also the impact managers themselves have had on media developments.